Case Study : All About Dot Net and Its Features

Introduction to Dot Net 

Hey buddies lets have a vivid description of dotnet . Many of them think dot net as programming language, but it is a software framework. It supports nearly 61 languages. It is developed by Microsoft which is primarily run on Microsoft Windows.This framework is a platform for developing software applications. It provides an environment   on which software developers can build programs for a specific platform.

         This includes a huge class library called Framework Class Library (FCL) and it  provides language interoperability  across the most programming languages. Programs that are written for .NET Framework does execute in a software environment  like Common Language Run time (CLR),which is  an application virtual machine providing services such as security, memory management, and exception handling. FCL and CLR combining together comprise .NET Framework.

Framework Class Library provides user interface, data access, database connectivity, cryptography, web application development, numeric algorithms, and network communications. Developers produce software by combining their own source code with .NET Framework including  other libraries. Microsoft also provides an integrated development environment enormously for dotNET software called Visual Studio.

     Now lets have a description about history  of .NET Framework.

History:

 In the late 1990s, Microsoft developed dotNET Framework, originated by the name of Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS). Next, by late 2000, they released the first beta versions of dotNET 1.0
Version 3.0 of dotNET Framework is comprised with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.Later  Version 3.5 is included with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and will also be installed on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. dotNET Framework 4 was released alongside Visual Studio 2010 on 12 April 2010.
 This software framework also includes two versions for mobile and embedded device use. dotNET Compact Framework, is available on Windows CE platforms, that includes Windows Mobile devices such as smartmobiles. With addition to these, dotNET Micro Framework is targeted at severely resource-constrained devices.

Design:

Interoperability:
.NET Framework  accesses functionality that is implemented at newer and ancient programs that execute outside because computer systems usually require interaction between both new and ancient applications, A   .NET environment. access to COM components is provided in  the System.Runtime.InteropServices and System.EnterpriseServices namespaces at this  framework; access to other functionality could be achieved using the P/Invoke feature.

Common Language Runtime engine:
Common Language Runtime (CLR) serves as the execution engine of dot Framework. All .NET programs execute under the supervision of CLR, guaranteeing certain properties and behaviors in the areas of memory management, security, and exception handling.

Language independence:
.NET Framework introduces a Common Type System, or CTS. CTS specification defines all possible datatypes and programming constructs supported by CLR and how they may or may not interact with each other conforming to Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) specification. Because of this feature, dotNET Framework supports the exchange of types and object instances between libraries and applications written using any conforming dotNET language.

Framework Class Library:
Framework Class Library (FCL) is a library of functionality that is  available to all the  languages using dotNET Framework. FCL can provide classes that protects many common functions, that includes file reading and writing, graphic rendering, database interaction, XML document modification, and so on. This contain classes, interfaces of reusable types that integrates CLR.

Simplified deployment:
.NET Framework is comprised of design features and tools that helps in managing the installation of computer software to ensure that it will not interfere with previously installed software, and this conforms to security requirements.

Security:
Here the design addresses some vulnerabilities like buffer overflows, which is exploited by malicious software. Additionally, .NET also  provides an efficient security model for all applications.

Portability:
When Microsoft has never implemented the full framework on any system except Microsoft Windows, this had maintained the framework to be platform-agnostic, and cross-platform implementations are also  available for other operating systems . However Microsoft submitted the specifications for CLI(Common Intermediate Language),C#and C++/ to both of  ECMA and ISO, just make them available as official standards with more specifications It made it possible for even third parties for creating compatible implementations of the framework and its languages on other platforms.

Architecture:

Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) 
The main purpose of CLI is to providing a language-neutral platform for those applications development and execution, that including functions for exception handling, garbage collection, security, and interoperability. Now by implementing the core specifications of dotNET Framework along the scope of CLI, this functionality would not be tied to any single language but is available across the number of  languages supported by the framework. Microsoft's implementation of CLI is CLR.

Performance:
Here the garbage collector, that is integrated into an environment, which introduce unpredictable delays of execution over which the developer has little direct control. "In huge applications, the many objects that the garbage collector have to deal with would  become huge, that means it will take a very long time to visit and rearrange them.